Something Different
by kingdomkeepers365
Summary: The only way to stop the cycle was to do something different, something so different it would never have happened before. Cassandra has a plan, a plan involving feelings she's been too afraid to face, a plan that could have disastrous consequences. Inspired by the upcoming time loop episode. Jassandra. Oneshot


**A/N: Hey everyone! So this is a little idea that came to me one day about how Jassandra could get together for the first time. I'd like to dedicate this fic to Nancy, or excaliburfeels of Tumblr. Her birthday was yesterday, and I wanted to write her something, but I was super busy. So Nancy this one's for you! Sorry it's late. Happy birthday to an awesome little LIT!  
**

"You were great back there" Cassandra said, walking up next to Jake. "We never would have made it out if it wasn't for you"

The Librarians were on their latest case, and they'd just narrowly escaped an encounter with Moriarity.

"Awwwe please" he retorted. "We never even would have found this place if it wasn't for you"

Cassandra grinned shyly. The two Librarians continued to slowly follow each other's step, barely making eye contact. Things had gotten a little heated between them the night before. Jake hadn't wanted them to split up during their last mission, and when Cassie confronted him, it didn't end well.

" _Why didn't you think I could handle that on my own?!"_ He could still hear her shouting so clearly in his mind.

" _It wasn't that Cassie. I know you can handle anything"_

" _Then why?!"_ He'd never heard her so angry.

" _I didn't want you to go!"_

He cringed now at the thought of how he'd acted that day, how he'd sounded, both during the mission and after. Words he meant to be caring came out in anger. He could never express himself properly around her.

" _You didn't_ want _me to?!"_ All he'd been doing was trying to make things better. Somehow he only ever managed to screw them up.

" _Cassie listen…"_

" _No! It's that stupid trust thing again isn't it? You still can't get over that one thing I did, and you didn't want me on my own because you didn't trust me!"_

" _No. Cassie…"_ Why couldn't he just come out and tell her the truth? He'd wanted to, but he was so scared, all he did was stutter, he couldn't say anything fast enough.

" _No. Forget it. Goodnight Jacob"_ She was out the back door before he could tell her how he really felt, why he didn't want her to go. Would he have though, or would he have just continued to make excuses?

Why couldn't she see that he just wanted to be close to her? Well, it wasn't like he made it obvious. She still thought he didn't trust her. Every time she tried to start a conversation with him, he shied away. He wanted things to be different between them, really, but how was he supposed to let her know, when he could never face it himself?

She wished he could see how he hurt her. She didn't want to be hurt. She wanted things to be completely OK between them, and for a while she'd thought they were. Something had changed in Peru, and after, when they were apart. Since they'd reunited, she noticed the difference. They talked. They were so close now, so close to…but it didn't matter did it? Whether she thought so or not, clearly things had never changed.

He still didn't trust her and realizing it hurt just as much as it did when he first said it. Except then she felt like there was a reason. She'd betrayed him; he was hurt. Now though? What was stopping him now? What was keeping him from letting down that big stupid wall and just letting her in? Nothing. So was she angry? She didn't know.

Clearly she'd seemed angry last night. She was, but now she didn't think that was really the case. Realizing she still didn't have his trust: it had crushed her. So she'd yelled. She stormed out. She went back to her apartment and cried. He didn't know that part. She didn't want him to know that part.

"Listen Cassie…" he said. "About last night"

"It's fine Jacob" she lied. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well I need to" After everything that had happened the night before, he was tired of holding back. It only ever ended up hurting both of them. The time for honesty, full honesty had come.

"Jake…" she tried to brush him off. She was terrified, terrified of what might come to light, terrified of being heartbroken all over again, and breaking right in front of him.

"Cassie just listen to me alright?" he insisted. "I didn't want you to go yesterday because I was scared. Not for me. I was scared for you. I knew it was dangerous, and I didn't want you to get hurt"

"So you didn't think I could handle it by myself?"

"No! That's not what I mean. I know you can handle anything by yourself. You're brilliant. You probably could have solved that case faster on your own than any of us. I…" he struggled again to tell her the truth. "I didn't want you to go because I wanted to be there protecting you. Even the most brilliant people can fall victim to danger, and I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to you and me not being there to save you."

Cassandra had grown silent. They'd stopped walking even, caught way behind Baird and Jones. He looked right into her big blue eyes, staring right at him. There were so many things to discover in those eyes, a whole world that he wanted to be a part of, a world he wanted to earn the key to.

"I do trust you Cassie. It was dumb of me not to realize it earlier. Who I don't trust is Prospero, and Moriarity. I love working with you, and talking to you, and I just wanted to be with you on this. I always want to be next to you I guess. It's not that I didn't think you could be on your own. I didn't want you to have to be"

Cassandra had started to cry. Here was Jacob Stone, standing right in front of her, saying everything she'd ever hoped to hear him say. How was she supposed to respond? She wanted to tell him everything right there: she liked having him by her side too. She wanted to protect him too. She _loved_ him. But where did she begin? What was too far?

"Jacob…" she started. She was sure now that this was the moment. She was finally going to tell him how she felt. She felt like she'd never thought she'd get the chance to feel. The words were ready to escape her lips when Ezekiel turned and finally saw how far behind they were.

"Oi mates I'm sick and tired of dealing with this a two hundred and forty seven days in a row" he snapped. "Try to keep up. We've got a real problem going on here"

"For the last time Jones" Eve groaned. "We are not stuck in a time loop!"

"Oh we're not? Then explain to me why I've known everything that has happened."

Cassandra sighed. Ezekiel had been insisting with them all day that they were stuck in a time loop, that he'd lived this same mission hundreds of times. He wouldn't shut up about it.

"Would you shut up Jones?" Jake shouted. "We've gotta focus on defeating Prospero here."

"Well mate we're never going to be able to do that if we can't finish the day!"

Eve sighed, exasperated.

"If this is really a time loop Jones, then how about you prove it?"

"Fine" he exclaimed. "Colonel, your phone is going to ring in 3, 2…"

Suddenly, Eve's phone sounded from her pocket. She eyed Jones suspiciously.

"And it's going Flynn asking you to ask Jake about some artifact" he added before she checked the phone.

Hesitantly, Eve looked down at the screen in her hands, and low and behold, there was Flynn's picture lighting up the screen.

"Lucky guess" she grumbled, before picking up the phone and moving to the corner.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Ezekiel still struggled to convince the team of what he knew to be true, but he was getting closer. All it took was incessantly saying people's words at the same time as them.

"Hold up Jones" Eve said, still refusing to believe any of this. "If we're in a time loop, which I still refuse to acknowledge, why are you the only one who knows about it?"

"Hell if I know!" he exclaimed. "Look, we've got to figure this out fast. Every day, I get you to believe, but the day resets before we can figure out how to fix it!"

"So how do we fix it?" Cassandra asked.

"Not sure"

"You're not sure!?" Jake exclaimed. "Then what the hell are we doing here! Come on, we got a case to finish"

"Hold your horses mate. I mean I'm not sure my idea will work. Clearly I haven't tried it yet?"

"Well would you care to tell us before everything 'resets'?" Baird insisted. Ezekiel sighed.

"As far as I can tell" he explained. "To break the cycle, you'd need to force something to happen, something that didn't happen every other day of the loop."

"But hasn't that already happened?" Cassandra inquired. "I'm sure you haven't said the exact same words all this time."

"No it can't be that simple. I've tried simple: wearing different outfits, making different moves in fights, saying different things; none of it works. It needs to be something huge, something that would never have happened any other time"

"Something huge?" Cassandra's voice grew quiet, nervous.

"Yes."

"That wouldn't happen before?"

"Yes…weren't you listening?"

Ezekiel was too caught up in his snarky ramblings to notice the change in Cassandra's form. She was frozen, the workings of her mind, for the first time, rendering her still. Her thoughts immediately went to Jake. She knew what she could do, how she could end this supposed "loop".

There was that fear again, stopping her from ever doing or saying what she wanted to. What if it only made things worse? Was that really worth it? Would it destroy everything they had right now? Even if it meant never changing, she couldn't bear losing their friendship. It meant too much to her.

She thought back to everything that had been said the night before, and everything said when they'd talked just now. He trusted her. He wanted to be by her side. Didn't that count for something? Didn't that mean that he…but she could be wrong.

Then all of a sudden, it didn't matter anymore. He was her Jake, and he cared about her, enough to worry about her, enough to be scared around her. She was done holding back in her life; she only had so much of it to live after all. It was time that she learned that secrets never did her any good. Only the truth could ever get her to where she wanted to be, and right now there was one way to tell the truth.

"Something different." she whispered. "I can do that"

Jake turned to look at Cassandra, about to ask her what she meant. She stared right into his eyes, and before he could ask her why, she did the unthinkable: she kissed him; she leaned in, and she kissed him. His eyes immediately shut as he processed the new sensation.

So this was what it was like to kiss Cassandra Cillian. If there was a way to describe happiness, this was it, this feeling right here: the taste of orange on her lips, the strawberry scent of her hair, the silky feel of her dress as his arms wrapped around her waist, the warmth of her hands landing behind his neck.

He sunk more deeply into her, allowing everything he felt towards her to be communicated through his lips. He knew now that every day he'd known her, every minute he'd stood by her side, had been leading up to this moment: the moment when he finally got to love her.

Slowly, they parted. She still had not broken eye contact with him, unable to believe what she had just done, what had just happened. He kissed her back, and now, looking into his eyes, he didn't seem afraid. This was real. She'd finally let her love for Jacob Stone take over, and that love had been returned to her.

Then, they were laughing, just looking at each other and laughing. Cassandra had never seen a smile like that on Jake's face. They were on a journey together now, and through their laughter they let each other know that they were ready for it to be the best journey they had ever gone on.

"Well" Ezekiel said, finally drawing their attention to the rest of the room around them. "Certainly not what I had in mind, but it'll do."

Eve was staring at them, slightly confused, but a small smile was hidden in her expression.

"So" Cassandra asked. "Did it work?"

"Well that remains to be seen" Ezekiel explained. "The day usually resets in about ten minutes. If it doesn't, then it worked. If not…well then we'll try again tomorrow"

"Well" Jake said, speaking just loud enough for Cassandra to hear him. "If it didn't…I certainly wouldn't mind reliving that moment."

She smiled and gave a little giggle. Jake held out his hand, and she grabbed it, entwining their fingers, and their hearts, as one.


End file.
